Kitchen Confessions
by WhovianAlison
Summary: First part in the Soulmate AU series. Each Time Lord is born with 13 lives, during them they can have on soulmate per regeneration. The Sixth Doctor is approaching his demise, having not confessed his feelings to his Soulmate yet (due to his own stubbornness), can a (not all together) unexpected confession from Peri do anything to change his fate?


The atmosphere in the TARDIS kitchen was slightly tense; the two residents, the Doctor, a time lord currently in his sixth incarnation, and his companion, a young American botany student called Peri, were shifting uncomfortably in their seats, and pointedly avoiding each other's gaze. Peri sighed, she was the one who had initiated this, it was up to her to say something first but she couldn't even bring herself to look at him right now, let alone actually say anything.

On his end, though outwardly displaying his usual air of pompous confidence, the Doctor was just as nervous, not that he would ever admit it out loud. Of course he had more than enough reason to be, imminent death was never a pleasant thought for anyone, let alone a Time Lord, who should, by all means, live a long and prosperous life. As it was however, having not told his Soulmate how he felt yet, it seemed that this fantastic new face of his wouldn't last very much longer. This, in his honest opinion, was such a waste as he had so much he still wanted to show the world. He wondered idly how his young companion would take it. Badly, he supposed, though she never had been overly fond of this version of him, an unfortunate side effect of the strangling episode, he had decided. Perhaps to her his death would come as somewhat of a relief, he only hoped the next version of him would be better liked, and would actually have the courage to say what had been on his mind for the past two regenerations.

The Sixth Doctor stole a glance at his companion with a small smile; she seemed to be completely lost in her thoughts and was absentmindedly playing with a lock of her short brown hair. More likely than not she was desperately trying to find out a way to formulate this 'good thing' she had wanted to tell him. Feeling his gaze, her eyes flickered to meet his and she smiled tentatively, her worry written all over her face.

Taking it upon himself to break the silence he raised an eyebrow at her in an imitation of his usual disdain.

She stared back, imitating him, sarcastically. "What?"

"Nothing, I was merely under the impression that you had something you wanted to discuss with me but apparently that's not the case. Really Peri, you must make your mind up about things, either you want to talk or not. I'm a busy man you know and I can't just sit around and…"

She glared at him, knowing full well that he was goading her into answering, but rising to the bait anyway. "I never said I didn't have anything to tell you. You're the one who always goes assuming things; maybe I'm just trying to think of a way to tell you. Now am I allowed to say it or not? Because honestly, I don't care either way, I was only gonna tell you for your sake."

"And what makes you think that I want to hear what you have to say?" He asked, still faking irritation.

"Oh gee, I don't know, maybe the fact that you were panicking like mad because I hadn't told you the good thing yet." She replied with her usual sarcasm, rolling her eyes at him. Even though he was purposely irritating her, she was still getting annoyed at him and if he didn't stop the two of them would end up in a real argument and Peri would lose her nerve and end up not telling him.

The Time lord opened his mouth, most likely to give some form of scathing remark but the young American cut him off. "No. Shut it Doc. It's taken me ages to get to a point where I feel like I can tell you this, so please just listen to me."

Peri closed her eyes, her tongue darting across her lips nervously. 'Right' she thought 'Here goes nothing.' She opened them again, noticed him staring curiously at her with those unnaturally blue eyes and her will crumbled.

Panicked, she impulsively leant forward and kissed him chastely before pulling away, wide-eyed and apologetic. "Sorry, I just didn't know how to…I mean you were…I didn't mean to…and ugh, that was so stupid of me…and oh, Doctor stop laughing at me."

Tears of embarrassment were starting to prick at the corner of her eyes, she was feeling bad enough about this whole thing as it was, did he really need to laugh at her on top of it all?

The Doctor was grinning incredulously at her, chuckling fondly both at the way she retreated and out of sheer relief. She returned his feelings.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed her pushing away from the table, clearly intending to retreat to the sanctuary of her room before anymore damage could be done. His hand shot out automatically and he grabbed her wrist, more forcefully than he'd actually intended, causing her to glare tearfully at him.

Gripping her wrist in one hand he slowly pulled her towards him and, with the other hand tilted her head up, forcing her to look at him. He smiled down at the embarrassed girl, saying in an unusually soft voice, "Now whose turn is it to actually listen, my dear Peri?"

Without any other warning, both of his hands moved to her face, gently cupping her cheeks as he slowly bought his mouth down to meet hers in a soft yet passionate kiss, that brushed away any of her previous doubts.

Reluctantly as with all things, their kiss had to come to an end and the two parted, Peri breathing heavily, while the Doctor looked extremely smug.

As her breathing steadied Peri smiled, looking up at the Doctor, asking dazedly. "You…love me?"

He smiled back, "I do believe that that was what I was trying to convey, yes and I take it you feel the same."

Peri laughed. "There you go assuming things again…but yeah, I love you too Doc, I always have."

The Doctor sighed. "What have I told you about calling me Doc, Perpugilliam?"

The girl merely raised an eyebrow, leaned up to press a swift kiss to his jaw and then raced out of the kitchen, asking him without words to come and get her.

The Time Lord rolled his eyes fondly before taking up the chase, making a mental note to explain the Soulmate Principal to her, afterwards. But right now there were more important things to be done.


End file.
